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This is about the cabin featured in the original Evil Dead trilogy. You might be looking for The Allen Cabin from the 2013 film.

The Knowby Cabin (often simply referred to as "The Cabin") was a small, five-room structure built on a secluded piece of heavily-wooded property in Michigan owned by the Knowby family. In the early 1980s, the cabin became the primary setting for a series of supernatural attacks following Raymond Knowby's translation of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis and accidentally unleashing a demonic spirit on the property.

The Knowby Cabin first appeared in the 1981 film The Evil Dead.

History[]

Early History[]

There is no information in regards to the cabin's history prior to the incident in 1982, save for the fact that the property had been acquired by Professor Raymond Knowby. It is unknown if the cabin's construction was at Knowby's request, or if had been built by the previous owner.

One source had implied that the cabin was never truly owned by the Knowby family and had merely been available for rent by an unknown owner,[1] though this claim has since been refuted by other sources.[2][3]

Evil Unleashed[]

In October of 1982, Raymond Knowby and his wife Henrietta had retreated to the cabin following his rediscovery of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis within the ruins of Castle Kandar with the intent to study and translate his latest find in solitude.[1] It was during one of these translation sessions that Knowby would accidentally awaken the Kandarian Demon, an ancient spirit which turned living creatures into Deadites. One week after Henrietta's possession and Raymond's disappearance, a group of five friends would arrive at the cabin (believing it to be a rental or simply abandoned by it's previous owner), unaware that the demon laid dormant in the woods around it. One member of the group, Ash Williams, would survive the onslaught of the Deadites inside the cabin for two nights in a row before ultimately getting pulled back in time to 1300 AD after opening a rift which would banish the Kandarian Demon.[2]

Aftermath[]

DemonSpawn-Kelly-Ruby-Cabin-AvEDS2E10

Ruby and her Demon Spawn stand over Kelly Maxwell inside the cabin (Second Coming)

It is following Ash's teleportation to 1300 AD in which the history of the cabin begins to divert in the myriad of realities in which it exists. In one world, a large slink-hole opened up immediately after the closure of the time rift, and the cabin (along with the body of Annie Knowby) fell directly into the depths of Hell itself.[4] On Earth-818793, Ash returned to the cabin with the intent of destroying it in an attempt to sever the "spiritual anchor" releasing the Deadites.[5]

In the "prime" timeline, a much older Ash ventured to the cabin 30 years after his initial visit to bury the Necronomicon beneath it's foundation, only to be tormented by the evil denizens within.[6][3][7] Several months later, Ash (with assistance from Kelly Maxwell and Ruby) traveled back in time to prevent his younger-self from finding the Ex-Mortis, only to inadvertently destroy it when a flaming portal to Hell swallowed the body of Baal and caught the building on fire.[8][9] Years later, a girl named Amy stumbled across the cabin's burnt remains and recovered the Necronomicon.[9]

Rooms[]

KnowbyCabinTopDownView-EvilDead2OfficialBoardGame-DaveYoukovich

A top-down illustration of the cabin's interior (Evil Dead 2: The Official Board Game)

The Knowby cabin had a total of five rooms, which included:

  • The Living Room/Den
  • Bedroom 1 (used by Scotty and Shelly, later where Professor Knowby's ghost appeared)
  • Bedroom 2/Recreational Room (Cheryl's room, also contains a piano)
  • The Kitchen/Dining Room
  • The Bathroom
    • An "U" shaped hallway wraps around the bathroom, which can either be accessed from the the hallway or the bathroom itself.

The Fruit Cellar[]

Underneath the cabin is a massive fruit cellar with several small rooms divided by stone walls. During Ash's two nights at the cabin, the cellar served as a makeshift prison for the Deadite Cheryl Williams and Deadite Henrietta Knowby. One alternate reality depicted a secret tunnel underneath a nearby church that led directly into the cabin's cellar.[10]

Surrounding Locations[]

Though many would consider the cabin as "isolated", there are several locations of note somewhat close to the Knowby's property.

The Truss Bridge[]

Stretched across a large ravine, a truss bridge is one of (if not the only) way for automobiles to access the cabin. During Ash's first night at the cabin, the bridge was destroyed by the Kandarian Demon in an attempt to prevent the group of five friends from escaping.[1] The following night, local residents Jake and Bobby Joe came across the destroyed bridge and set up a series of barricades.[2] In the reality known as Earth-818793, Ash Williams and his girlfriend Sheila traveled across the bridge on their way to the cabin, though Williams was unaware that the bridge was destroyed in the first place due to his alteration of history and the wiping of his own memories of his first trip there.[11]

Trails[]

After the discovery of the destroyed bridge, Ash's friend Scotty made mention of a trail close to the cabin that possibly led back into a nearby town.[1] The next night, Jake, Bobby Joe, Annie Knowby, and Ed Getley used a trail that led them around the ravine and directly to the cabin, possibly the same trail that Scotty had mentioned.[2] Later in the evening, Jake said the trail had been "swallowed up" by the woods themselves. In another universe, Ash Williams discovered these trails and used them to access various locations nearby, such as a church and scout camp.[10]

The Workshed[]

Located just a few feet away from the left-hand side of the cabin (when facing the porch) is a small workshed. Inside is a variety of tools used for hunting, woodworking, and property maintenance. It was inside the workshed that Ash Williams nearly dismembered his girlfriend Linda, and later modified a chainsaw so it could attach to his wrist.[2] When Ash returned to the property 30 years after his first visit, he was briefly trapped inside the workshed with Linda's severed head.[6]

The Barn[]

Several yards behind the cabin stood an old wooden barn with a metal roof. While larger than the workshed but smaller than the cabin itself, what was inside the barn remains unknown since none of the visitors to the cabin ever examined it's interior.[1]

Appearances In Other Media[]

Board Games[]

Comic Books[]

Commercials[]

Video Games[]

  • The cabin's first appearance outside one of the films was in 1984 video game The Evil Dead.
  • The second appearance of the cabin in a video game was Evil Dead: Hail To The King, where it was the starting location
  • The cabin is the first level in iOS mobile game Evil Dead: The Game.
  • The cabin briefly appears in the opening cut-scene of the Army of Darkness Defense mobile game.
  • The crossover game Deploy And Destroy features a map based on the cabin's appearance in Ash Vs. Evil Dead.
  • As part of the official Evil Dead 2 DLC, a cabin map (featuring a variety of missions to complete) was added to Phantom Halls.
  • The cabin (along with Ash Williams) was added to the crossover multiplayer game Fortnite on October 18th, 2022 as part of the game's Fortnite's Fornitemares 2022 event. It is visually based on it's appearance in the Evil Dead II film.

Gallery[]

Exterior[]

Surrounding Locations[]

Video Games[]

Comic Books[]

Behind The Scenes[]

The Evil Dead Cabin[]

Interviews josh becker pt2 11

Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi's fictional history of the cabin (Book Of The Dead Premiere Program)

The cabin featured in the original Evil Dead film was located in Morristown, Tennessee, and was built sometime in the 1960s. Prior to being used in the film, the cabin was used by the property's owners as a hunting cabin. The cabin was leased to the film's production crew under the condition that any modifications made for filming were to be undone. This promise was upheld by the crew, though the only thing that remained that was not part of the original cabin was the fireplace (which was built by Don Campbell).

Sometime shortly after the 1981 release of The Evil Dead, the cabin burned down due to trespassers sneaking onto the property and having a party, leaving the stone fireplace as the only indication that the cabin was there at all. It's very likely that the Season Two finale of the Ash Vs. Evil Dead television series (in which the cabin burns down) was inspired by the fate of the original cabin.

In the years following the film's release, Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi began telling a fictitious story about an incident which occurring during filming of the first movie, in which a man arrived at the cabin looking for a woman named "Clara", who allegedly lived in the cabin in the early 20th Century. "Clara", who witnessed the death of her father just outside the cabin doors, would escape her new residency and return to the cabin during thunderstorms. As mentioned previously, this story is entirely fictitious, as the cabin was not built until the 1960s, 15 to 20 years before The Evil Dead began filming.

Evil Dead 2 Cabin[]

A new cabin and workshed were built in Wadesboro, North Carolina specifically for Evil Dead II in 1986. Unlike the cabin seen in the original Evil Dead, this cabin was simply an exterior, with the interior located in a local high school not far from the cabin exterior location. Also unlike the first Evil Dead cabin, this cabin was not destroyed by man, but time and weather have taken a toll on a set that was to only be temporary.

In 2016, fans of Evil Dead II took what few props remained at the North Carolina location and some parts of the cabin and workshed. While planks of the collapsed cabin were eventually used to create special dice for Space Goat's cancelled Evil Dead 2: The Official Board Game Kickstarter, the workshed in it's entirety managed to be salvaged and rebuilt. The workshed now tours the United States, appearing at various conventions.

Army of Darkness Cabin[]

A third cabin set was built for the opening scene of Army of Darkness. The "simple" Army of Darkness cabin set only consisted of two rooms: a main living room (which featured some elements from Evil Dead II, such as Professor Knowby's desk and cabinets and the deer head), and Linda's bedroom. Footage from Evil Dead II was used to depict the cabin's exterior.

Ash Vs. Evil Dead Cabin[]

For the Ash Vs Evil Dead television series, a fourth cabin (and a third workshed) was created in a New Zealand sound stage. This version of the cabin combined elements from the first two films, though it mainly pulled from the Evil Dead II design. The cabin was used in the first two season finales.

The Cabin's Location[]

The exact location of the cabin has changed with various installments of the Evil Dead franchise in both live-action and various officially licensed media:

  • In the opening of The Evil Dead (1981), the cabin was implied to be somewhere just inside the northern Tennessee boarder (as Ash remarks "We just crossed the Tennessee boarder..." while examining a map).
  • Evil Dead II (1987) features a sign on the side of Jake's tow-truck reading "Fairview, Tennessee", implying it is closer to the western region of the state.
  • Beginning with Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick (2003), all subsequent Evil Dead media began to retcon the location of the cabin to Michigan. In Fistful of Boomstick, the cabin was said to have been located "in the woods outside of Dearborn" in the opening cutscene.
  • In the first season of Ash vs Evil Dead, the cabin was depicted as being within walking distance from Crosby's Militia campsite. The episode The Killer of Killers implies that the camp is near Gladwin, Michigan, and "north of M-59".
    • In the episode Bound In Flesh, Ash mentions that there is a trail behind the cabin that leads directly to the town of Elk Rapids.
      • The emergency radio broadcast heard at the end of The Dark One states that sink-holes are suddenly opening across Antrim County, moments before a sink-hole destroys the road behind Ash's trailer as they drive away from the cabin, reinforcing Ash's statement in Bound In Flesh that Elk Rapids is nearby.
  • Evil Dead: The Game (2022) places the cabin in the fictitious town/county of Remington Rapids, which is directly stated to be in Michigan.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Evil Dead (1981)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Evil Dead II (1987)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Ash vs Evil Dead: Bound In Flesh (Season 1, Episode 9) (2015)
  4. Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead By Dawn #1 (June, 2015)
  5. Army of Darkness (Volume 1): Old School #5 (January, 2006)
  6. 6.0 6.1 Ash vs Evil Dead: Ashes To Ashes (Season 1, Episode 8) (2015)
  7. Ash vs Evil Dead: The Dark One (Season 1, Episode 10) (2016)
  8. Ash vs Evil Dead: Home Again (Season 2, Episode 9) (2016)
  9. 9.0 9.1 Ash vs Evil Dead: Second Coming (Season 2, Episode 10) (2016)
  10. 10.0 10.1 Evil Dead: Hail To The King (2000)
  11. Army of Darkness (Volume 2): Home Sweet Hell #9 (May, 2008)
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